Republican tax reform plan may be limited by GOP budget

Republican plans for tax reform could be less sweeping than originally envisioned by the White House and GOP leaders in Congress, as a provision in a House GOP budget blueprint would require any tax bill to be 'budget neutral,' which would force lawmakers to offset any tax cuts with revenue increases that could be difficult in some cases to gain Congressional approval.

Deep in the fine print of the budget resolution for next year, the Republican plan allows for a tax reform bill under budget reconciliation, "if such measure would not increase the deficit for the total of fiscal years 2018 through 2027."

In other words, you can't just cut taxes - which technically deprive the federal treasury of revenue, and therefore increase the budget deficit - you have to find revenue to pay for those tax cuts.

And Republicans on the House Budget Committee were actively trumpeting that message.

On Thursday, House Speaker Paul Ryan was touting tax reform during a trip to a New Balance factory in Massachusetts.

But when a tax plan is deficit neutral - a cut for one person means that revenue must be found somewhere else to offset that reduction - in other words, some other tax increase, mainly one would assume by taking away deductions in the tax code.

And many veterans of Capitol Hill say that's not going to be easy.

"I spent much of 2011-16 negotiating tax reform proposals in the Senate," said Brian Reidl, a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, who used to work for Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH).